New Mechanisms of Shear-Driven Plasma Turbulence

该研究项目将利用西弗吉尼亚大学的Q机对速度剪切结构驱动的等离子体湍流进行实验研究。离子回旋加速器和离子声等离子体的不稳定性在磁层和电离层中波的产生和传播中是重要的。已经发现，垂直流动中的不均匀性已被证明可以显著降低激发这些等离子体不稳定性的阈值。将进行实验室实验以阐明已确定的不同机制的作用，这些机制可能导致这些不稳定性的增长速度加快。实验结果将直接应用于磁层和电离层中观测到的波动现象。

This research program will utilize the West Virginia University Q Machine to perform an experimental study of plasma turbulence that is driven by velocity shear structures. The ion-cyclotron and ion-acoustic plasma instabilities are known to be important in the generation and propagation of waves in the magnetosphere and the ionosphere. It has been found that inhomogeneities in perpendicular flows have been shown to significantly decrease the threshold at which these plasma instabilities may be excited. Laboratory experiments will be performed to elucidate the roles of the different mechanisms that have been identified, might lead to enhanced growth rates of these instabilities. The expermental results will have direct application to wave phenomena observed in the magnetosphere and ionosphere.